by Fletcher Armstrong

Continuing our See you in the funny papers series (explanation), this one from the Grand Valley State University Lanthorn.

Science Student:  Your “movement” implies that those who have had abortions are “murderers” and compares them to those who oversaw the holocaust [i.e. “Nazis”].

CBR Response:  We explicitly state that women who have had abortions may not be compared to Nazis.  In fact, aborting mothers are often more victim than perpetrator.  They’ve been lied to.  Many face enormous pressure and even threats of abandonment (or worse) by irresponsible or predatory males who should be supporting them.  Some “choice.”

We compare abortion to the Holocaust because in both cases, (1) the victims are denied rights of personhood, (2) perpetrators use dehumanizing terms to describe the people they intend to kill, etc.  But we also compare slavery to the Holocaust, for all the same reasons.  Does that mean that we believe George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and William Clark were as evil as Nazis, because they owned slaves?  Of course not.  These men are personal heroes of mine, but they were very wrong about a grave moral issue.  They grew up in a society in which slavery was an accepted part of daily life.

Perpetrators of genocide almost always discount the humanity of their victims.

Young women hearing the lies, learning the truth, and heeding the call to action.

by Jacqueline Hawkins

She looked at the photos intently.  A bright and inquisitive young woman, she was one of four children — all now happy, healthy adults.  However, all four had been slated for execution before they were born.  After prenatal tests, the doctors strongly encouraged her parents to abort them due to the risk of miscarriage or birth defects.  Because their parents would not listen, the world is blessed with these four people.

Speaking of prenatal testing…

He said the human genome is so weak, we need to cull inferior genetic stock in order to survive as a species.  Where have we heard that before?  YIKES!!!

He said we should use prenatal testing with extreme prejudice to find people with defects and “delete” them in the womb.  He would have been glad to wipe out his classmate and her siblings (and possibly their mother and father) because of inaccurate tests.  This young man even said that if he had a birth defect, he would chose to be aborted rather than burden the world.

Hitler would have been proud, but the young man insisted his ideas were somehow not the stuff of Nazi fantasies.

Listening in…

Although his mind was made up, I continued to facilitate the conversation because three of his fellow students stood listening, and I wanted them to hear the insanity of his argument.  They appeared uncomfortable with his “purify the master race” ideas, as well they should.

After the young man left, I asked if they had questions.  Looking rather relieved that this guy had gone, they asked the usual hard-case questions, such as life-of-the-mother and rape.  After hearing my answers, they wanted to know more.  Specifically, they wanted to know what could they do!  Two them signed up for the new campus pro-life organization.  A third asked for contact information for the local crisis pregnancy center, so she could volunteer for them.

This is a frequent scenario.  We use our discussion with one student to reach many more who are listening in.

Jacqueline Hawkins is a CBR Project Director and a regular FAB contributor.